I'm writing this from the middle of the living room, while I wait for the movers to show up with our stuff. I was handed three cat, the cooler of stuff for the freezer, two laptops and a box labelled "Internet, In a Box" which contained our modem and router and some other stuff that isn't really necessary for the internet but just fit in the box.

Which means I have internet service. And an house. With lots of lovely green walls. Except for the rooms that aren't green but are blue.

I worried that the color we chose for the living room/dining room would be overwhelming, but I love the way it turned out, and I love the way it looks next to the color in the family room, where I was afraid it would make the grey tones in that color come out too strongly. And the office/mancave/guest room is a lovely shade of blue.

Call you up from the new house and say "The water is off at the new house." And wait for your reaction before they explain to you that the painters turned it off because they were painting behind the fridge and there was something wierd with the hoses, and that they'll turn it back on shortly.

He says it looks really good though.

The movers have postponed our move to Thursday, and who doesn't appreciate an extra day to pack?

The movers called to see if we wanted to go tomorrow instead of Wednesday, because of the weather. We're not going to be ready to go tomorrow.

And they issued an inland tropical storm watch or warning (not sure which) for us earlier today. They're moving the Space Shuttle off the launch platform, I think, and predicting three to five inches of rain around here.

Now, I'm not one to go crazy over this. But does it have to happen when I'm in the middle of moving?

(And if my head is any kind of barometer, and it usually is, we're in for a storm.)

Some of the questions that follow are largely oriented towards parents, but I'd be interested in feedback from party-goers in general about things. And I'd really appreciate if people would link this in other places-the more feedback the better.

With the new house, we're likely to plan a housewarming. And most of the parties we attend are family events, not adults only. I'd like to continue that trend, as someone who would like to have children one day, and because I know it means that some of our friends are far more likely to attend when they can bring their kids along.

Some parents are better than others at watching their children or making sure that there's an adult responsible for their children, at making sure their children are entertained and not getting into things that might not be safe, and that someone who doesn't have children might not have remembered to put away or thought to put away. (And the fact that one couple we know is not the most attentive to their two and a half year old when we're at parties is a big part of the reason that this is on my mind, after watching what that child got into at someone's house last weekend.)

So, what I was thinking about is setting up a sort of kid-space at our house during the party. Pull out the card table (which has a very nice vinyl top so it's easy to clean) with kid friendly toys and activities. I'd put it in a space that allowed parents to both watch their children, and enjoy the rest of the party. I might include things like paper and crayons, play dough, lego/duplo, and I'm not sure what else. Maybe also, set up a space to put movies on for the kids. Most of the kids are probably between two and a half and about six, with a few older ones, in the elementary school range who require less supervision. The one high schooler I know tends to not be at parties with his Mom and Dad.

Onto the questions:

If you're a parent, how would you feel if someone set up kid-space at a party? Would you feel good and try to take advantage of it, or would you feel like you were being relegated to the kids table?

If you're not a parent, how would you feel about kid-space at parties that are family-friendly?

Do you have any suggestions as to what might have kid-appeal and be reasonably safe for children ages 2 and a half to about 9. I'm thinking lego/duplo, some non-messy-ish art supplies, some balls and stuff to play with outdoors, maybe checking to see what Oriental Trading has to offer.

Depending on the timing, I'm thinking this might also be halloween themed, and I might also set up pumpkin carving/decorating, as well. (We used to throw a party for this when I was a kid, and it was a blast, so I'd like to revive this tradition.)

Any thoughts? Please share far and wide. The more feedback on this the better.

We're here in Florida. The house is full of boxes, but they're slo wly getting unpacked. We bought a dryer on Saturday and it's just been delivered. There's still a lot of shopping to do-shower curtain and such for the master bath (we've been using the other bath because we knew how we were going to decorate it, though we don't know what to do with the mater bath, other than that I want to set it up to use the sage green and hunter green towels I've got-the teal and light blue ones will go in the other bath.) Also a china cabinet or buffet of some sort, and new bookcases. Plus the usual things to decorate-the bedroom needs throw pillows, since we have a new comforter for the bed, but we've got beige carpet and walls and a white ceiling, with the grey comforter, so it needs a bit of spicing up.

Apparently, I've got to rethink my entire pantry scheme, to prevent pantry bugs. Keeping things in their original packages is a no; things in carboard boxes or plastic bags is out. I need to get some good containers that fit well together to store stuff.

I'm getting used to the near daily rain, though it was unusally dry last week.

The water sucks here. It smells like sulphur, and it tastes off...though the smell is strong enough that it makes me not want to drink water. Fortunately, we installed the Brita on the sink over the weekend and it seems to kill the smell. I don't actually feel clean after a shower though, and my skin is dry and uncomfortable.

We drove somewhere in the neighborhood of five hundred miles today. We're just north of Savannah, Georgia, after having spent an incomprehensible amount of time trying to get between oh, north of Dale City and Fredricksburg. I think it took us two hours or something like that. Needless to say, we were hoping to be much closer to Orlando by now, but we're not. We pulled off the road a bit after 11, Cayne fell asleep by half past and I'm still up.

Widget and Gizmo seem to be handling the trip well...they've spent a lot of time snuggled up together, sleeping in the cat carrier, or wrestling, or just hanging out. There's the occasional meow from them, but that's usually because one bit the other too hard while they played. Beta on the other hand...is an entirely different story. He doesn't travel well, because being confined to the cat carrier is awful for him. If we let him out of the carrier, he'll sit on top of it, or on the floor under the feet of the person on the passenger side, but otherwise we count our trip in meows per mile. (For the record, at highway speed, it works out to about one every five seconds, which means about twelve per minute. At less than highway speed, the frequency increases.) This is despite the sedative the vet gave us for him, which doesn't seem to be doing much. If we have to do this again, I think I'll ask for a different sedative...or fly with him-I opted not to fly with him because I can't imagine not taking him in th cabin, and well, he just doesn't fit properly in a cat carrier that fits under the seat. Beta is at the moment, sleeping on the hotel desk, which I don't mind because at least he's sleeping, which he didn't do at all last night. Widget is curled up next to me in bed, and I have no idea where Gizmo is, but she has to be here somewhere.

For some moving/pet humor, check out How to move your hippo courtesy of the United States Postal Service. I got a good laugh from this on Friday afternoon when I was really at the end of my rope.

Need to figure out where we're staying tomorrow...whether it's in the empty apartment with no furniture, no net, no place to sit, or sleep or anything, or in a hotel room. I'm voting for the second, Cayne for the first. I agree with him on the importance of getting "home" and settled, but well, when nothing is there, and you don't even have a chair, (our stuff doesn't arrive til Tuesday) and he's got to go to work, leaving me to deal with everyone/thing, then a good night's sleep would help.

Fortunately I should be able to manage a nap tomorrow in the car. We're leaving here bright and early. Next post...Orlando.

I finished HBP last night. If we hadn't been in the middle of packing, I'd have probably finished it on Saturday, but well, packing had to be a priority. Then again, if it weren't for HBP, I'd have probably found packing to be even more challenging.

I should be packing right now, but Cayne has literally fallen asleep on the floor, at the top of the stairs. He's blocking the door to the bedroom that I need to get into to get to some of the things I need to pack, and I suspect that too much packing around him will wake him...and I know how much he needs this sleep.

I think between Cayne and the two kittens sitting next to me giving off sleep-vibes, it may become difficult to stay awake.

I just sliced several fingers open on the tape gun. Right ring finger in a couple of places, right middle finger in fewer. Doesn't seem like it will need stitches, but it's just another sign that this move sucks.

(It doesn't help that I burned my left palm the othe day either.)

The cats-all three of them, have gotten into the bedroom I was trying to keep them out of.

Despite the horror that is packing (though the moveres will pack for us, there are some things that are such a disaster from the last move that I'm packing myself) there are very few things that aren't cheered up by twelve week old kittens. I don't know where the camera is, but we welcomed Widget Ferdinand Thunderpaws and Gizmo Elizabeth Thunderpaws into our home about four weeks ago. They're a wonderful distraction, and a bright spot in the day. The are at the moment curled up on the couch near me purring and wrestling and licking each other. Beta is less than thrilled, but he's getting used to them. I think it will be easier when we're in a new home all together and the space wasn't Oblivion's house. (It was very very obvious that Oblivion was our alpha cat when we had both cats...she really kept Beta in line.)

Our travel plans....

We're expecting to leave NJ some time on Friday evening, and drive to the DC metro area. We'll stay somewhere around there (we're making no hotel reservations, and letting the length of time we feel like driving determine our actual travel distance and stopping points) and hopefully be able to corral people into brunch/breakfast at around 10 AM on Saturday morning. (Side note...I could use some help on this, if someone in the DC-Local crowd might be willing to be the local point person for this, who would be willing to transcribe phone posts and be the point of contact for non-LJ friends.) Wherever we go, we'll chose something childfriendly (if you've got any suggestions, please post them, or e-mail me.)

Our route will basically take us down I-95, to I-4, in Florida. If you're along the I-95 corridor, south of the DC Metro area and would like to see us, let me know. We'll see what we can do.

I need to get rid of three five shelf bookcases, and one three shelf bookcase.

We also have a good sized couch that needs a new home. If you're in or near NJ and want to give one or more of these items a home, or 2. can pass this information on to others who might be able to use it or 3. know someone who can use it, please put them in touch with me.

We've known this was in the works for quite a while now...about eight months or so. We originally heard that this would happen in February, then "some time between May and August." Well, we're between May and August.

This means we're going to be moving, yet again...this time, to Orlando, Florida. There are advantages and disadvantages to it. I'm not thrilled with the idea of pulling up stakes yet again, and trying to set down roots somewhere else, where I know no one. Then again, the cost of living is significantly less, and it means things like probably being able to stay home with children if/when we're lucky enough to have them. It means that I can probably go back to school. It means a lot of things like leaving friends and family behind.

This is why I didn't work harder to find a job in my field while I was here...because I expected to be leaving and didn't think it fair to make committments to an agency or clients.

It's a good time to start a new journey...we're getting married and setting off on our own journey in a different place.

We've got internet access at the house again. I don't have much to write about. It's been a mostly quiet three weeks, getting settled, getting the house cleaned (that's an adventure I might write about some time later on, or at least post pictures of.) I'm practicing Housewifery...you can ask Cayne if I'm doing an okay job at it. We did some holiday shopping-I wanted to get the parts that needed to be done in a mall or toy store done before Thanksgiving (although I still haven't bought Cayne's Chanukah or Christmas gifts yet.)

I've got a cold, so I'm feeling kind of antisocial, and I can't get ssh connections going at the moment-I think I'll leave that for Cayne to mess with when he gets home, since this is his computer. We shopped a bit for laptops-it would be nice to have my own, instead of having to borrow his or be tethered to my desk all the time.

The cats are setting in and arguing with each other less. Beta is still having a hard time with the rules...where he isn't allowed, and not pestering Oblivion. He's also trying to figure out how to open the basement door (the frame is damaged so it doesn't shut properly and we've propped it shut with a six pack of soda) so perhaps he's a bit cunning after all. Then again, I think cuteness is a survival skill in his case. He's found a favorite hiding spot in the linen closet, too, although the last few days he's been out and about much more than before, which includes a morning snuggle with me some days, and sleeping on the stairs instead of the middle shelf in the closet. I think he's starting to feel more comfortable with Cayne, which is perhaps why there's less hiding and more play and cuddling. Wood floors make for a happy kitty-his toys slide all over the place. He'll race up and down the stairs chasing a toy mouse, and if he happens to drop it through the bars (which he's discovered he can fit through) he'll look at it pitifully and either jump through or wait for the humans to toss it back. I think perhaps Cayne tossing toys at Beta was a bonding moment for them. Amusingly enough, Beta had never really delt with stairs before and it did take him a few weeks to get comfortable on them. Up of course was easier than down, and he still does take the occasional tumble down if he moves too fast or misses the carpet on the bottom. He's a resilient cat. Oblivion has discovered the wonderful ledge inside the window next to the front door and thinks it's a great place to watch the outside world from. And there are of course lots of places for her to climb up on and sleep. She adores Cayne and is inclined to cuddling on his lap as often as mine, which is nice. She's even cuddled him in bed instead of me-I've never quite understood how she can feel so heavy even though she's not that big.

This weekend holds a Thanksgiving celebration at my parents house on Thursday, and some random wedding planning chores. I'm hoping to squeeze in a haircut as well. It's hard to believe that in a month we'll be heading off for a week in Canada, and my first Christmas with Cayne's family. We're trying to figure out what our own holiday traditions will be...whether we'll have a "tree" (I hate fake trees, and cut Christmas trees drop needles etc, so we're thinking some kind of a bush or something with roots, if we decide on a tree) and what to do for Chaunkah (we decided on a few small gifts, to surprise the other with any time during the holiday.) We'll see how it works.

I think we're getting settled here, things are finding homes, we're finding things we like, and getting used to things. It's nice, and even though I miss so many things about NoVa, I'm getting used to this.

Still here. Still without net access. The short short version-the previous tennants never disconnected their cable. Comcast won't connect us without either the previous tennants disconnecting the cable, or a copy of our (non-existant on paper at the moment) lease. Until then, we're stuck with dialup, which is rather unhelpful.

Must beat Comcast.

Miss you guys. Will plan a visit to NOVA/DC/MD Very Soon.

happypete-if you happen to see this, can you call me? I thought I had your number in my phone but I don't...it's only in my palm which is in dire need of charging at the moment.